Obesity provides challenge for workers’ comp
- Should weight loss drugs be approved under workers’ compensation laws?
- The impact of new treatments and breakthroughs in medicine is nothing new to workers’ compensation systems.
- The advent of weight loss drugs and their potentially staggering costs should cause any employer or carrier to be concerned.
- The cost impact on workers’ compensation programs is largely unforeseen, premiums weren’t charged or collected for them, and a very large percentage of injured workers could try to take advantage of them, all at their employer’s expense.
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Finding food is reasonable expectation of employment and workers’ comp
- A Texas court ruled that a worker was permitted by his employer to get food on the job and was eligible for workers’ comp.
- In February 2017, the plaintiff, who was a commercial truck driver for Commercial Metals Company, drove his work truck from Houston to a job site in Rosenberg, Texas.
- As the plaintiff was waiting for the truck to be unloaded, he decided to get money and something to eat and drink for breakfast, and as he walked across a railroad bridge, fell 25 feet from the railroad track and suffered serious injuries.
- The plaintiff filed a claim for workers’ compensation for his injuries, alleging that the injury occurred in the course and scope of his employment. An appellate court ruled that leaving the truck to find food and drink was a reasonable expectation of the plaintiff’s employment
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Health-care workers most prone to sharps injuries
- About 84% of sharps injuries occur among healthcare workers, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
- Injuries from a needle or other sharp objects can expose workers to bloodborne pathogens (BBP), such as human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases.
- While acknowledging that BBP and sharps injuries are a concern specific to healthcare workers, institute researchers found that sharps injuries also occur among workers in other industries.
- NIOSH researchers found that after health care, sharps injuries occur most often in four other industries: justice, public order, and safety; traveler accommodation; colleges, universities, and professional schools, such as junior colleges; and pharmacies and drug stores.
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PECO worker injured by stray bullet
- Four people, including a PECO worker, were shot in North Philadelphia.
- PECO said the worker was struck by a stray bullet.
- The shooting took place along North 6th Street, near West York Street, around 10 p.m.,.
- One of the people shot was a 34-year-old PECO worker who police said was shot twice in the buttocks.
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